THE job market for MBA graduates continues to improve, with many business schools reporting the best recruitment climate since 2001.
London Business School says 96 per cent of its MBA class of 2005 had accepted job offers within three months of graduation, up 11 per cent on 2004. Warwick also reports job offers running at 90 per cent after three months.
In the US, too, recruiters are returning to business schools in droves. The MBA career research company WetFeet reported a rise in the average number of job offers for the third successive year. Traditional big recruiters — consulting firms and investment banks — increased their hiring by around 60 per cent, while new companies recruiting MBAs were up 20 per cent.
Less welcome news is that applications to traditional full-time programmes continue to decline. In the US, the Graduate Management Admission Council reports that 72 per cent of full-time programmes last year saw a slump in application numbers from 2004.
Europe has not been immune. At Henley Management College, Lynne Stone, development director for open MBA programmes, says the school is experiencing the same trend as many other UK business schools, with full-time applications continuing to fall dramatically.
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“Fewer and fewer applicants can afford either the cost or the time out of the labour market required by the full-time MBA,” Stone says. This is having the knock-on effect of pushing numbers up on other courses such as Henley’s distance learning MBA, she adds.
Behind the decline in full-time applications are two other trends. The first, as Stone suggests, is a shift to part-time MBA study, rather than giving up the day job. The second, and perhaps more significant for UK schools, is a fall in the number of applicants from overseas, especially China, which increasingly has its own MBA providers. “We are seeing a clear shift away from some of the nationalities on which we traditionally depended,” says Rachel Killian, MBA marketing manager at Warwick. But it is not all bad news. The drop in full-time applications is accompanied by rising demand for part-time and distance learning MBAs.
Business schools are moving to accommodate the shift. In Spain, for example, the Instituto de Empresa is launching a radical programme using an innovative learning model. Its global communities MBA is aimed at young professionals who do not want to interrupt their career. But the real innovation stems from interaction among communities comprised of the school’s alumni and other key players in the corporate world. In the long term such innovations could relegate the full-time MBA to a secondary offering. But some schools are bucking the trend. Bath School of Management saw a rise of 20 per cent for enrolled students starting the full-time MBA last September. Oxford’s Said School also increased its full-time intake by almost 30 per cent. It, too, reports a strengthening job climate. “The market is the best we have seen since February 2001, ” says Simon Tankard, head of Said’s career service.
With fewer applicants chasing places and more jobs to fill, MBA holders stand well placed. Both recruiters and admissions offices are likely to be clamouring for their attention.